A Silver Lining and a New Pair of Socks

As I reported in my last post, Hurricane Ian led to a festival cancellation, but there is always a silver lining if you are willing to look for one. If the festival had gone on as planned that would have been great, but only if it wasn’t a wash out. If that had happened though I would have been extremely challenged to get this amount of work done in the two days home I would have had. As it turned out I had four extra days, which was not totally a bad thing after all. What would make it even better is if I managed to make up those lost earnings from the one show in the five remaining, right? One can hope and I am ever hopeful.

So, I have been making good use of those extra days! We got some yarn dyed in some bases and colors that were getting a bit low on stock. In addition to that I also restocked the trailer with more yarn, swifts, darning eggs, and nostepinnes.

I got the dyeing done for New Era Fiber, which would have been put on the back burner for sure if I had only had two days home.

I also hate to get behind in book keeping chores. I am very fortunate that I was able to get all that caught up, including all my quarterly sales tax filings. I almost forgot that I needed to get the oil changed in the truck. I got that done on Monday while I was restocking the trailer. Then on Tuesday I got the groceries and even had time to wash the truck again.

The one thing I haven’t been back to work on yet is my Gansey sweater pattern. I got about 2/3’s of the directions written in the hotel last week for the size I knit. I still have a long way to go so I can see it being maybe next year before it is all written, charted, and tested. I do think I am going to start working on a test knit for one of the smaller sizes I am planning to include, but more on that next time I think.

For now, I do have a finished pair of socks to report. I have already worn them once and I love them! I did run out of yarn but I found a scrap ball from another project in a comparable color. Believe it or not it took all but about two yards even of that yarn, but I made it! The color is a little off here but as you can see the toe on the left sock is close enough don’t you think? I mean when they are in your shoes who sees the toes, right?

I am heading off to Ann Arbor tomorrow for the Fall Fiber Expo. It is supposed to be pretty chilly so all the better to wear all the hand knits!

Posted on by — 2 Comments

An Unfortunate Turn of Events

I spent a few days getting some work done at the hotel plus a bit of knitting and reading. Wednesday afternoon everything changed though. I had been planning to work some more on pattern writing through Thursday and on Friday drive to Orange, VA to set up the booth. Hurricane Ian caused an unexpected and unfortunate turn of events. The festival decided that it would be best to cancel since it is an all outdoors event. It was disappointing but probably the right call. It is a right mess there when it rains a lot. It’s no fun having all your inventory in a tent under those conditions and driving in trucks and trailers on muddy fields is not for the faint of heart. LOL!

So I am home and have a weekend off that I didn’t expect. It’s just as well since I need to get in some yarn dyeing and now I have 5 days instead of 2 to get it done. We also got a call from the mill and they brought me 18# of fiber to dye as well. There are some more Nostepinnes and Darning Eggs that Jerry made while I was gone to get finished and labeled.

He’s still got more blanks roughed to make more of both.

I am mixing up dyes today with the plan to get the dyeing done over the next day or two.

In knitting news, I have almost finished the Gridiron Sock but I am almost sure I am going to run out of yarn. I will dig up something to finish out the toe. They are for myself and I don’t mind.

Posted on by — 6 Comments

Time to Catch Up but Not For Long

I am currently in Winchester, VA. I spent two days home last week after returning from Yellow Springs, OH. I barely had time to catch up my laundry, restock some stuff in the trailer and pack my gear and it was time to make the drive to Virginia. The Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival was this past weekend. It’s a wonderful festival! The weather was great and the turnout was too. I was very excited that I got to have a visit with my friend Dee of Dee O’Keefe Designs. I missed seeing her for a few years and it was so good to catch up. If you’ve been enjoying many of the shawls I have knit here on the blog you should check out her lovely website and pick up a few of your favorites.

I wish I had thought at the time to get a picture of us, but alas I did not. I do have a few booth shots if you’re not completely bored of seeing them by now.

So I have four days this week before heading to my next festival in Orange, VA for the Fall Fiber Festival. I decided that today was to be a rest day. Well sort of, I had some website/inventory records to catch up, and some bookkeeping tasks. I don’t like to let those things get behind. So, I set up my work area and did that this afternoon.

Before I started my work though I had a few other things I wanted to do this morning. I started my laundry while I was having my coffee and breakfast. Then I drove to the Walmart to get some more provisions for the week and gas up the truck.

Before heading back to the room to make a big salad and tuna sandwich for lunch, I took my truck in for a nice wash. It was dirty from all the driving and the fairgrounds.

That’s better! I do love a nice clean truck don’t you?

I’m not sure what else I will do for my other three days before setting up my booth again on Friday. I may just mostly hang out here and do some reading and knitting. That’s actually a pretty nice idea to me. My knitting progress on the Gridiron Sock is coming along slowly but surely. I turned the heel and started the gusset decreases last night. It’s up above in the picture of my work desk. I’ll let you know if I do anything worthy of a post before I go home. Have a great week!

Posted on by — 1 Comment

A Wonderful Weekend

The Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival last weekend, was awesome as always. All three days kept me very busy. I saw so many knitters and even a few fellow WordPress bloggers, Alissa of Headknits and Bonnyknits. I came home on Monday, tired but happy.

Bensusan Shawl (Ravelry project page) got a very nice debut in the booth. It drew a good amount of attention too.

I took a few pictures of Bensusan here at home last week before packing it. The color is a bit off. The Cypress is more dark olive like this picture from my website.

So try to mentally fuse the color of that skein above with the shawl and there you go. :-) The texture is lovely from the cables. I knit the large size and when I measured it fresh off the blocking pins it was about 80 inches on the longest side and 35 inches down from that to the point. That is a bit larger than Dee’s measurements for the large but it may draw in a bit more after awhile. I used all three skeins of the yarn with only 3g left over. That comes to about 740 yards.

I have not been getting a lot of knitting done lately due to my busy schedule. Here is my latest progress on my second Gridiron Sock. Sometimes a sock on the needles is the perfect thing. It will be accompanying me to Yellow Springs tomorrow for the Wool Gathering at Young’s Jersey Dairy.

Posted on by — 5 Comments

Guess What’s Coming to Wisconsin With Me?

I arrived home safely from Pittsburgh last Sunday. It has been enjoyable spending the last week at home. After three weekends in a row, it is a nice break. I’m packing up the truck again tomorrow and leaving Wednesday for the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival. Can you guess one of the things I will be packing? Do you give up? It’s my newest booth sample, Bensusan.

I took this picture before I put it in the sink for a soak. I used almost all of the three skeins of Classic Merino Superwash DK in Cypress. I came close to running out of yarn. I weighed the finished shawl and it is 297g. I finished the last bit and bound it off last night while Jerry and I were relaxing on Sunday and watching a couple movies.

It is blocking at the moment. It took every one of my Knit Blockers, and I have three boxes. I used a half dozen or so T-pins in addition, to get it all pinned down. I didn’t measure it yet to see if it’s the same size as the one in the pattern for the large directions. It is written for worsted weight yarn and size 8US needles, and I substituted DK weight yarn and size 7US needles.

Now that this project is done I don’t have anything on the needles for my trip. I have the second Gridiron sock that I can start. Maybe that is what I will do.

Tomorrow is a busy day of packing. I plan to get some pictures of my shawl done then. I will be driving all day Wednesday. It’s a 560 mile drive, but at least I stay in my own time zone. Thursday is booth setup day. If I have time in the afternoon or evening, I will write a blog post with a few pictures of Bensusan in the booth. See you soon!

Posted on by — 4 Comments

Happy Knitting at the Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival

I am currently vending at the Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival. It’s nice to be back after missing the last two years. I began exhibiting here almost from the festival’s inception. We have one more market day tomorrow and then I am heading home. It will be good to be home after an extending time traveling.

I arrived here from Mighigan on Monday and had Tuesday off. Wednesday was booth set up day. During my down time I have been working on some website tasks and trying to get in a bit of knitting time on Bensusan. I have made good progress on both.

The booth is looking pretty good if I do say so myself.

Here’s a picture of the “Tool corner” :-).

I will see you when I get back to Nashville, and I am really looking forward to that. :-)

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Michigan Fiber Festival and More

I had a great time at Southern Comforts Fiber Market last weekend. The festival had good attendance for a new show and I think it will get even better as it gains an audience. I had only a few nights at home before I was off to Michigan for the Michigan Fiber Festival this weekend.

Today was setup day, which took most of the morning and afternoon.

As you can see we have a good selection of Darning Eggs and Nostepinnes, and more to come soon.

I couldn’t decide which of the yarn display pictures was my favorite so I just put them all up.

I’ll be pretty busy for the next few days with the festival so I may not get another post in until next week. I do want to pass on some news though. Do you recall that I test knit a shawl last year for a Kristi Renshaw?

The pattern is called Confection Shawl and she has published it on Ravelry and on her website.

Posted on by — 3 Comments

Maize Cowl Knitting Pattern

Maize Cowl Knitting Pattern

I really like my new Maize Cowl. I am pretty sure that it will be my go to scarf when the weather cools off. For Nashville that will be quite awhile yet. I have a project page for it on Ravelry.

Maize Cowl Knitting Pattern

I love the texture and ease of knitting in this design. I wrote it about 8 years ago as pattern support for my Classic Merino Superwash DK yarn. It was a new base that I wanted a one skein project to help promote it. Up until now I have only had it available in my booth. To celebrate my new website however, I have decided to publish it online. It is on my website only, for a $4 download. I haven’t listed it on Ravelry. I may in the future, but for now it’s only on my website or in my booth at festivals.

Speaking of festivals, I am going to be in Charlotte, NC next weekend for the second annual Southern Comforts Fiber Market. I will be leaving on Wednesday and setting up the booth on Thursday. The festival happens on Friday and Saturday. I have really enjoyed my nice long break, but it will also be good to get back to the festivals. I like being with the knitters and talking about yarn.

Posted on by — 4 Comments

Miscellaneous News

I’ll start today’s post with an update on what is on my needles. You may recall I am working on the Bensusan shawl in my Classic Merino DK yarn in the color Cypress. I have progressed to the main chart and added the second skein of yarn. I am enjoying the variety of the stitch patterns. It’s easily memorized but interesting. I love cables.

The other project I have going is my cowl using the yarn my daughter brought me from Ireland. I am about 25% done on it. I cast it on a couple days ago. It’s a pretty quick and easy knit so it shouldn’t take too long to make.

It will be August very soon and I will be back to festival vending. We are still working on restocking inventory. Within the last couple weeks we have added some more Undyed yarn to the website. I stock two Organic Cotton yarns (a sport weight and a worsted weight) and also small quantities of all our Merino wool yarns as Bare yarn for those who wish to use it that way or to dye themselves.

We have also recently finished some new Darning-Eggs in Cherry and Maple woods. We have some more Walnut in progress.

Last night two of the grandchildren were over and were given a fun ride around the property in my husband’s new cart he built for the lawn tractor. They had fun and didn’t want it to end.

Posted on by — 2 Comments

Midlothian Shawl is Done

This will be a quick update today to show you the finished shots of my Midlothian shawl.

I am very pleased with how this turned out after blocking it. It measured 65″ across the top and 30″ down the center spine. That is smaller than the DK weight version would be, but it is a nice size for a smaller person.

I used almost all of two skeins of Classic Merino Superwash Sport in Cerulean. I made a small modification in size. I worked two extra repeats of the eyelet chart at the top. That was actually good, because I am happy with the size and I had enough yarn. If I had made it any bigger though I would have needed a third skein of yarn.

The picot bind off looks nice but it does require a bit of patience to block them out properly.

Posted on by — 4 Comments